Face to Face

Face to Face

In this feature we catch up with one of the most up and coming talents of windsurfing, Alessio Lucca Stillrich and size him up against someone who is showing a level of talent like never before seen in freestyle skiing, Luca Tribondeau. We caught up with the two of them and fired them a similar set of questions to see if the minds of these two young action sports stars of the future think in similar ways.

THE FREESKIIER – Luca Tribondeau

Short Bio:

Name – Luca Tribondeau

D.o.B – 03.08.1996

Years skiing – 13 years, 3 years racing, 4 years freeskiing

Years competing – 6 years (3 race, 3 Freeskiing)

Number of competition entered –Don´t know…

Highest level competition entered – Will take part at the Jon Olsson Invitational soon, where the level is same as for example at the X-Games.

LT: I started Freeskiing when I was 12 years old, because of my brother, because I always wanted to do the same things as he.

BS: Did it take long before your sponsors spotted you?

LT: Not really, because I skied one year without any future expectations and competing but in the upcoming season I decided that that is the sport where I want to be successful in and I started off winning my first Slopestyle Competition.

BS: Why did you choose skiing?

LT: Well, I started skiing when I was 3 years old and never did any other sports that consequent as some kind of wintersports and skiing was the most fun part for me!

BS: What’s the best thing about it?

LT: Being in the nature and you can do what you want! There are so many things which are awesome but definitely one of the best feelings is, when you land a crazy new trick!

BS: Where do you rank on a national/international level and what are your aims for the this/next season?

LT: I won the Austrian Champonships this year so national there are no more higher things to do, but international its really difficult to say, because now I have the triple cork 1440 on my repertoire and that is for example a 3 place at X-Games this year. Everything can change so quick in our young sport.

BS: How does competition work in your discipline and do you get nervous at all?

LT: I love competing and also for me it seems like my skiing gets better when I’m skiing with some kind of pressure! Everybody gets nervous when it comes to big things, but I’m a guy, I don’t care to much if it is a competition or if it is just training!

BS: Most amount of prize money available for best competition that you have entered?

LT: Its always like 5000-10000 Euros.

BS: When the season ends, what do you do to keep training?

LT: When the season is over, than it is time for me to hit the water-ramps and work on new tricks for the upcoming winter! Beside that, I spend a lot of the time in the gym to keep my body strong. That’s one of the most important things you have to do, because that’s the reason that I haven’t ever had any injuries regarding skiing!

BS: Do you do any other sports? How are you getting on in them?

LT: I really like windsurfing, but it’s all about fun for me! I’m not competing or challenging in any other sports at the moment than skiing! That would be way to stressful for sure!

BS: Is it important to focus purely on your number one sport or to mix it up?

LT: If you’re a professional athlete its definitely important to focus on one sport! I mean, I can’t imagine doing something different than skiing!

BS: What are your aims for the 3-5 years? World champion? X-games?

LT: Staying injury free and have tons of fun at what I’m doing! I think everything else comes from this and just following the path of progression! A big thing for me are the Olympics in Sochi 2014 but also X-Games and other huge competitions are definitely my plan!

BS: What’s the best move name you’ve heard of and what would you name a new move if you had a chance to?

LT: Kangaroo Flip is definitely my favourite one! That’s a tough question, but I think I would not be to creative!

BS: Who is your idol?

LT: Jon Olsson is my biggest idol, because he is the absolute Star in the Freeski scene and he is such a nice guy! He is helping me a lot since about 2 years now which is un-payable! There are many other guys, but Jon definitely is my favourite!

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Face to Face

BS: Tell us the most scariest move you can do and what the scariest part of it is?

LT: Thats for sure the Triple Cork 1440! I did it my first time a few weeks ago, when I was at the Springgingerle! The jump was perfect and I just went for it! The scariest part of it is, when you’re only used to do double flips, to go upside down one more time, but that’s an indescribable feeling!

BS: Next competition and video part?

LT: Jon Olsson Invitational is up next! No video projects at the moment!

BS: Since the making of this interview, Luca placed 5th in the Jon Olsson Invitational where he truly set his mark as the star of the future. Mark our words this kid is going places, check out the event highlight video and keep your eyes peeled for the guy in the yellow/orange outfit…

Short Bio: I was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. My mom is German and she moved to Gran Canaria when she was pregnant with me. I visit a private school since I am 6 and I will finish it in two month. I started windsurfing in 2004.
Name – Alessio Stillrich
D.o.B – 14/03/95
Years Windsurfing – 8
Years competing – 5
Number of competition entered – About 20.
Highest level competition entered – PWA Worldtour Tour Stops
Best result (what competition) - 13th at the PWA events in Pozo Izquierdo and El Medano
Most memorable windsurfing moment – My first no handed goiter, I think!
Sponsors – Fanatic, North Sails, ION

BS: How did you get into your sport and do you think where you live helps? AS: The father from my friend Moritz Mauch gave me a beginner board as present and I started to get in to the sport. After I went to a windsurfing school in Pozo Izquierdo, yes that definitely helped, we get a lot of windy days here. Last year I sailed 648 hours in total.

BS: Did it take long before your sponsors spotted you? AS: No, not really. I first got sponsored by North Sails after sailing two years and about 12 months later I got my board sponsor Fanatic.

BS: Why did you choose windsurfing? AS: I found the sport fascinating from the beginning and I could not stop practising it.

BS: What’s the best thing about it? AS: I think the thing I most like about windsurfing is to stick a move for first time… It is an awesome feeling to land any new move after trying and training it for lots and lots of hours

BS: Where do you rank on a national/international level and what are your aims for this/next season? AS: I got ranked 26th at the World Tour this year. Had a bit of bad luck in the last comp and I lost lots of points. Hope this year everything goes good so I can get into the top 10.

BS: How does competition work in your discipline and do you get nervous at all? AS: Competition works with a elimination leather. We get different heats in witch 4 sailors fight 2 against 2. The winner from both duels gets to next round and then they both fight against each other. This goes on like that till the final. After the single elimination there can be run a double elimination too, which is kind of a second chance for every body to climb back up the results up but you can also drop down from the result from the single elimination too. I wake up quite nervous actually but as soon I hit the water I come completely down, most of the times…

BS: Most amount of prize money available for best competition that you have entered? AS: I’m not quite sure actually but it must be a 90.000 Euro I think!

BS: When the season ends, what do you do to keep training? AS: I still go sailing if there is any wind. If not I try to go out on the water with my SUP.

BS: Do you do any other sports? How are you getting on in them? AS: I actually only practice some stand up apart from windsurfing. I got a new Fanatic SUP now which is quite small but I’m getting used to it really well.

BS: Is it important to focus purely on your number one sport or to mix it up? AS: I think dedicating about 80% to the sport you practice and a 20% to other activities that may be useful for progressing in windsurfing is the perfect mixture.

BS: What are your aims for the 3-5 years? World champion? AS: Will be really hard to become best of the world. To be honest I don’t really know, everything can happen. Of course I will try to become World Champion one day, it’s the dream of everybody I suppose. I think that becoming at least top 10 results in every tour stop is quite a good job.

BS: What’s the best move name you’ve heard of and what would you name a new move if you had a chance to? AS: A name I really like is the Sky Man, which is a high stalled forward. Hm… I think I would call it Stillrich

BS: Who is your idol (both in your sport and out of your sport) and why? AS: My idol is Victor Fernandez since I started sailing. He has a great personality, nice style sailing, lot of discipline and he seems to be a really serious and professional guy. Out of windsurfing it could maybe be Che Guevara. He fought a lot for the freedom of the cuban people, he got to be the symbol of the revolution against the oppressing power and he died because of his ideas.

BS: Tell us the most scariest move you can do and what the scariest part of it is? AS: I think my tweaked push loops are quite nice, or that’s at least what people say… Most scariest part is maybe the moment in which you are completely inverted and prone at 10 meter hight. It is scary in the beginning both with the time you get used to it and you can enjoy it.

BS: Next competition and video part? AS: Next competition will be the first PWA tour stop at Gran Canaria, in July. I will be working on new videos as from June.

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